Blue Shadows: Rogue
by ncismka233
Summary: This is not a typical story, I am attempting to start my own original story, but I am going to start with a crossover. Most of the story will be my original story, but there will be chapters featuring NCIS and Criminal Minds. Plot: The Major Crimes Unit of the Washington DC Metro Police department works around the clock trying to find two kidnapped young teenage girls
1. Chapter 1

A sinister man is driving down the streets in the nation's capital with some devious plans in mind. Even though he is driving in the late hours, the street is luminous with the street lights and outdoor lights in the gorgeous Glover Park neighborhood. The Autumn leaves are still visible and rustling in the midst of the swift breeze as the night fell into darkness. The man's dead glare is filling the street with a sense of dread and terror. The beaming lights of his van lit up the row house on the end of the street. His patience is strong which is good because his target will not be available until morning. He is parked a distance from the driveway so he is not directly in the family's line of sight, but where he is parked the man's piercing blue eyes have perfect visuals on the house. He slips on a black ski mask and slumps down in the leather seat in order not to be noticed by passing cars, especially the cops. He watches the clock in his car change from 12:42 to 2:59 to 5:01 to finally 7:58. He has observed long enough to know that the person he is gunning for is alone for at least thirty minutes. He jerks up and pulls his mask off when a woman comes out of the home just as his eyes were about to lose the battle to sleep. The woman is clearly already stressed out.

"Joshua, I said you can't bring your frog with you to school."

"But momma Miss Julie said we can bring whatever we wanna to show and tell!" the little boy said protesting. She sighed heavily.

"Okay okay you win, but you have to bring it in its tank."

"Yay!" Joshua exclaimed excitedly as he ran into the house.

"Kelsey, don't forget to leave the door unlocked for the cable guy today."

"Mom, you've already said that like thirty times!" An irritated voice yelled from inside. The woman rolled her eyes at her daughter's remark.

"Bubba's ready momma!" the little boy said as he lugged his frog's tank out to the car.

"Good luck on your math test today Kelsey! Do yourself a favor and study before you go." the woman said as she shut the door.

Inside the house Kelsey stared at the door as her mom and little brother leave. Kelsey decided to ignore her mother and keep texting her best friend. Just as she sat back down on the sofa, there was a knock on the door. She looks through the peephole and sees a guy who she is assuming is the guy coming to fix their cable, so she opens the door.

"Hi I'm Joe."

"Are you here to fix the cable?"

"Is it giving you trouble?"

"Yeah, but my mom said you wouldn't be here until ten." Kelsey said. She could sense that something was off about Joe.

"I decided to start work early. Hey listen, do you think you could help me get some heavy stuff out of my van?"

"Uh… I'm sorry I have a math test to study for. Please come back at ten."

"Oh come on it'll just take a few minutes."

"No I'm sorry." Kelsey said as she started to shut the door. Joe forcibly jammed his foot in the door stop and pulled a gun out from the small of his back.

"You've chosen the hard way." he said harshly. Kelsey's face froze along with her body as her heart beat increases. Her dark brown eyes dart up to him as her expression changes to absolutely terrified. "Scream and I'll kill you, try to run and I'll kill your little brother."

All she could do was stand there.

"Come on!" he said. She whimpered as he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the house. He held his gun under her jacket pressed against her back. The man was so careful at observing Kelsey's home, he did not think to survey the surrounding homes, turning out to be a big mistake on his part. The man next door came outside as the man was about to shove Kelsey into his van. The neighbor grabbed the paper on his driveway and looked up when he felt someone staring at him.

"Can I help you sir?" he asked suspiciously. The devious man shoved Kelsey into the van and pulled his gun on the neighbor and fired twice then sped off in his van to a shady gas station. Kelsey ran to the back corner crying and cowering just as he slammed on the breaks.

"Come on, let's just talk here." Joe said.

"Go to hell!" she yelled angrily.

"Come on!" he said more aggressively. When he got closer, Kelsey kicked him in the groin.

"Oh!" He grunted and fell to his knees clutching his groin. She got really scared when he grabbed her by the arm and threw her onto the ground of the van. He tied her arms together with duct tape as she cried wishing she had gone with her mom. An hour passed before her mother came back home from dropping her son off at school and noticed her gone.

As it usually goes, it is a normal day at the Major Crimes Unit in the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Station. Sergeant Eric Silas is not being as productive as Detective Chase Archer. Silas is waiting under Chase's desk in the squad room wearing a hockey mask in order to scare him just for fun. Detective Cassie Leland and her partner Detective Danny Mota are also in the squad room working on some DD5s at their desk watching Eric and Chase out of the corner of their eye. Chase came out of the bathroom and walked to his desk to finish his reports. He was half way in his chair when Eric popped up from under his desk.

"Ah!" Eric yelled as he jumped up leaning into Chase's face.

"Ahh!" Chase yelled as his pupils dilated quickly and he fell on his back. Danny and Eric laughed at him as Cassie got up to help Chase up from the floor.

"Silas, are you ever going to grow up?" she asked as she grabbed Chase's hand.

"He's almost forty, he's grown just not mature."

"Hey I am not "almost" forty! Thirty-nine is almost forty."

"Then what do you call thirty-five?" Cassie asked.

"Thirty-five years young."

"Thirteen is too young." their Captain said as he walked in holding a clipboard.

"What do you mean Captain?" Danny asked. Captain Jeff Dalton tacked a picture of a cute young teenage girl up on their whiteboard.

"Kelsey Strayer, aged thirteen. Her mom called and said that she's missing and likely abducted."

"Is this another parental abduction? We've been getting a lot of those lately." Cassie said.

"I wish, but the mom isn't divorced. She lost her husband last year in Afghanistan."

"So this is a stranger abduction?" Chase asked.

"It looks like it." Dalton said unfortunately.

"That means we have twenty-four hours to find this girl alive." Silas said.

"Yes it does Detective Silas." Chief Unit Bellamy said as he walked in the room. "Y'all will get overtime for this I promise. No one is going home until we find the bastard that took this girl." Bellamy said.

"This guy is serious about taking the girl. He shot a neighbor who was out getting the paper." Dalton said.

"Is he okay?" Cassie asked.

"He's in surgery, his name is Anthony Redding." Dalton said.

"We'll go talk to him after he's out." Cassie said.

"Great, for the time being this is what's going to happen; Eric, you and I will go talk to the mother, Chase I want you to track everyone of Kelsey's movements for the past week, Danny and Cassie, you two go canvass the neighborhood." Dalton said.

"Let's get this girl back to her family." Bellamy said. Everyone went to their designated posts to find Kelsey Strayer. Dalton pulled up to the Strayer home with Eric alongside him.

"This never gets easy." Eric said.

"Tell me about it." Dalton said as he unbuckled his seat belt. The two cops walked uncomfortably up to the door. This was the worst part of their job. Talking to a mother on the worst day of her life is not a task for the light hearted, but with over twenty years of experience on the police force, Captain Jeffrey Dalton was an expert on talking to distraught parents. Detective Eric Silas is not a fan of talking to victims and their families solely because he does not like to see people in pain. He is very good at making someone feel better though since he grew up on the streets and saw a lot of people in pain. Mrs. Strayer opened the door to let them inside. Her tears on her face had dried and new ones formed when she saw the police.

"Have you heard anything about Kelsey?" she asked frantically.

"No ma'am not yet. I'm Captain Jeff Dalton, this is Sergeant Eric Silas we're from the Major Crimes Unit and we'd like to talk to you."

"Shouldn't you be out there looking for my daughter instead of talking to me?" She snapped.

"Mrs. Strayer, we have every cop in the city, including Agents from the FBI looking for your daughter. We need to talk to you in order to organize our efforts efficiently in order to find your child." Eric said.

"You're right, I'm sorry." she said sounding like she was about to collapse under stress.

"There's no need to apologize. We know what you're going through must be unbearable." Eric said. She nodded sadly and said,

"Please come in." She closed the door and went back to pacing.

"Mrs. Strayer,…"

"Please call me Jessa." she said.

"Okay, Jessa, have you noticed anyone paying particular attention to Kelsey or your family?" Dalton asked.

"I…I don't think so."

"Have you seen anyone or anything in the neighborhood that seems out of place?" Eric asked. Jessa nodded her head side to side then stopped and thought hard for a minute. "What is it?"

"Our cable stopped working last week and before I called the repairman, a cable car was sitting in the street near our house." she said. Eric and Dalton looked at each other worried.

"What?" she asked nervously.

"It sounds like Kelsey may have been targeted. Does she have any friends or boyfriends that may want to hurt her?"

"No I don't think so. She's a great kid, everyone loves her."

"What about you? Do you have any enemies?" Dalton asked.

"Not really. I mean I work at a dentist office. Unless someone's unhappy with my service." Jessa said.

"Okay. Where's your son?"

"I thought it would just upset Josh if I took him out of school, so he's still there. He's too young to deal with this." Jessa said.

"One more thing, who's Kelsey's best friend?" Dalton asked.

"Jenna Kerris, why?"

"She might know something. Thank you for your time." Eric said.

"Sergeant, please I'm begging you, find my daughter alive. I can't lose her too." Jessa pleaded as her eyes welled up again.

"Jessa," Eric put his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "We're not going to stop until we do."

"Thank you." she said. After she let them out, she shut the door. She bent down to her knees sobbing and eventually curled up against the wall. All she wanted was her little girl in her arms.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright everyone where are we so far?" Chief asked as the unit and police all over the station ran around like a bunch of nuts.

"Anthony Redding is our best lead so far, he says he can probably be able to describe the guy to a sketch artist." Cassie said.

"That's good that's really good!"

"AMBER Alert is extended to Virginia and Maryland." Chase said.

"Great. Chase, where are you on her movements?"

"Nothing to suggest that he communicated with her before the abduction."

"I took the initiative and checked out the cable company Jessa Strayer gave us. They said they didn't approve anyone to check out their house before ten."

"Captain, you know who we haven't talked to yet." Danny said hesitantly. Dalton lowered his head down then brought it back up.

"Let's wait for Anthony Redding to finish with the sketch artist before we bring in the pedophiles."

"Anything to keep those freaks out of here."

"Hey guys Chief wants us to start a press conference soon." Cassie said as she walked in swiftly.

"I just talked to Jessa Strayer, she's coming now." Chase said.

"How is she?" Danny asked. Chase swayed his head uncomfortably and said,

"As you'd expect."

"Alright let's go." Dalton said. They all headed out to the front steps of the station with a sense of determination. In the blink of an eye, everything was set up and a teary eyed Jessa walks up to the podium with the help of Eric. He had his arm around hers and slowly walked her up the steep stairs to talk in front of the feeding frenzy media. Cameras are flashing, people are yelling, asking a million questions every second. Her weepy eyes looked into what seems like a sea of reporters.

"Whenever you're ready." Eric said gently to her. She looked down and sniffled. Jessa's eyes got a glimpse of her daughter's picture. Her face read as clear as day, she is determined to hold it together to get her little girl back.

"My name is Jessa Strayer." she said as she started to slip again. She wiped her nose with her sleeve and looked back up. "This morning my daughter Kelsey Morgan Strayer was abducted from my home. Whoever you are, please…" she started to cry again. "Please just bring her home, she's just a little girl. No one has to get hurt here, just bring her home please!" she pleaded as she started to sob, breaking down. Eric had tears in his eyes, but he batted them back and patted her shoulder.

"If anyone has information on the where about of this man, please call the Major Crimes Unit tip line on your screen." Eric said as he held the sketch Anthony Redding gave them.

"We'll have an update meeting in a couple of hours. Please give Kelsey's family privacy. Thank you." Captain Dalton said to the media frenzy. Everyone of the reporters started asking a million questions, so Eric walked her back into the station. She pushed her dark hair back and said,

"What happens now?"

"Well the station is going to start getting calls, so we're going to track down every lead we get."

"Eric!" Danny exclaimed. Eric looked at Danny reluctant to leave Kelsey's mom, but he knew he could not be with her for the whole investigation.

"Jessa, is there any family you can stay with?"

"I'll go to my sister's house in Anacostia."

"Okay, this is Officer Rindell, he's going to take you home."

"Thank you. Detective." Eric looked at her in her deep hazel eyes before rushing back to the squad room. "Please let me know the second you find her."

"I will." Eric said. He felt some kind of connection with Jessa. His heart flutters a little when he talks to her. He is not sure if she feels it to, but he has learned in the past not to get close to the victim's families. Danny was getting impatient since the new information he just got was big. Danny grabbed Eric's arm and dragged him into the squad room.

"What is so important?"

"I just got a call from Evan Bayne."

"Evan Bayne? Didn't his daughter get abducted about fifteen months ago?" Eric asked. Danny excitedly shook his head.

"What did he say that you're so excited about?"

"He said that Riley knew Kelsey, they were both on the same volleyball team a couple years ago."

"Really?"

"That team still has the same coach, his name is Logan Connolly."

"Only problem is, he doesn't have a single charge on his record." Chase said disappointed.

"Well right now, he's our best lead. Chase, let's go my friend." Eric said as he grabbed his heavy winter jacket. The two detectives got into Eric's black sedan and drove as fast as lightning to Logan Connolly's house. The detectives waited in anticipation the closer they got to Connolly's house. The only sound in the car was the blaring sirens. Eric dodged car after car on the busy streets of DC. Logan Connolly's street is in his sights, so he speeds up and parks on the side of the road as the wheels screech. They slam the doors and strut up to the townhouse.

"You know his house is only two miles away from Kelsey's." Eric said.

"That's ironic." Chase said knocking on the door. Eric pounded on the door when no one answered.

"Logan Connolly, Metropolitan PD open up!" Eric demanded. A middle aged woman sticks her head out the window next door and watches the men pound on her neighbor's door.

"Good morning gentlemen." She said. Eric stopped pounding and held his clenched fist and looked up at the lady.

"Are you looking for Mr. Connolly?"

"Yes ma'am, do you know where he is?"

"At the gym of course. He's such a good teacher, he loves the girls!" she said cheerfully. Eric and Chase looked at each other with a disgusted look.

"Thank you ma'am."

She waved to them as they hustled back to their car. Eric jumped in the driver's seat and hit the sirens before he even shut the door.

"He "loves" the girls?" Eric said repulsed. "What's a thirty some year old guy doing coaching middle school girls anyway?"

"Maybe he's got a kid on the team?"

"Maybe. Or he's just a freak." Eric pulled up to the community gymnasium as the sirens beep in short intervals. He turns it off as he pushes the door open. They walk up to the gymnasium with their hearts pumping just a little faster. Both of the detectives seriously doubt that he would be keeping a kidnapped girl in such plain sight, but the investigation has just begun. For now Logan Connolly is just a suspect and they do not know for sure that he has the girl. The large red gym doors swing open as Eric and Chase make their entrance.

"Anna, spike! Come on Carly you're right under it! Just go for it, you have kneepads for a reason!"

"I'm going to assume that's our guy." Eric said.

"Mr. Connolly!" Chase said in a loud tone. The squeakiness of tennis shoes echoing in the large gym and the yelling of "mine!" made it hard to hear anything.

"Mr. Connolly!" Eric yelled louder. Coach still could not hear the detectives and was too focused on his team of volleyball players to even notice them come in the gym. Eric's shoulder's dropped as he sighed in frustration.

"Any suggestions?"

Chase thought for a minute. His face perked up when a lightbulb lit in his brain. Chase walked up behind a girl who looked to be about twelve years old and bent his knees to get in a ready position.

"Mine!" the girl in front of him yelled. Chase lunged for the ball and spiked it down to the ground causing it to bounce back up and into his hands.

"Who are you?" the girl asked startled.

"What the hell is going on?" Connolly snapped when he finally saw the detectives.

"Mr. Connolly, we need a word." Eric said holding up his badge. Connolly glared at him and slanted his stance.

"Girls five laps around the gym." he demanded. As the girls ran off Connolly turned to the detectives. "Can I help you?"

"Mr. Connolly, I'm Detective Silas, this is my partner Detective Archer. We are here to discuss some of your players."

"Which players would that be?"

"Let's start with Kelsey Strayer."

"Kelsey? What about her?" he asked. Eric's face grew suspicion.

"You didn't hear what happened?"

"No I've been here since five thirty this morning. Is she okay?"

"Not really, she was abducted this morning."

"Oh my God! That's awful, but why are you talking to me?"

"Because fifteen months ago another girl went missing and she was on your volleyball team too. I don't know about you Mr. Connolly, but I don't believe in coincidences."

"You mean Riley? Wait you think I had something to do with this?"

"Where were you this morning around eight?"

"Here!" Connolly said offended.

"Can anyone vouch for that?"

"No." Connolly said in a matter of fact tone.

"You mind coming with us?"

"Actually I do. And I know my rights, I don't have to come with you."

"We just want to talk."

"If you want to talk, call my lawyer." he demanded.

"Fine, after practice come down to the station with your mouthpiece. Thank you for your time." Chase said sarcastically. Eric walked right up into Connolly's face.

"If I find out you had anything to do with this girl's abduction, I will do everything in my power to make sure you rot in jail for the rest of your miserable life." Eric said in a deep stern voice. Connolly's face turned from repulsed to anger.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Silas, let's go."

"You bet your ass I'm threatening you."

"Silas!" Chase said trying to pull his partner away. Eric turned around and followed Chase out of the gym, but looked back at Connolly a few times before they were back in the lobby that smells like hot sweaty gym socks.

"He's hiding something."

"Definitely, but I'm not going to let you do anything stupid to get it out of him."

"I'd love to have him look down the barrel of my gun and spill out whatever he's hiding." Eric said opening the door.

"I'd film that."

The detectives went back to the house to fill the rest of the team in on Logan Connolly.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where are we?" Captain Dalton asked as Eric and Chase came back into the squad room.

"With an uncooperative suspect."

"Logan Connolly?" Cassie asked. Eric took his jacket off and threw it over to his desk and worriedly ran his hand through his dark hair.

"Yeah he's hiding something. He looks like the sketch too."

"We need to call his lawyer if we want to talk to him."

"You know what that means guys."

"We get to poke around his life." Cassie said smiling.

"His file says he doesn't have any family, so the gym is our probably or next best bet to finding out who he is." Danny said.

"Well I'm pretty sure Connolly is going to punch Eric in the face if we show up again."

"He does have that effect on people." Danny said. Cassie had her dark red jacket over her arm and her gun on top of it as she started to walk out.

"Come on partner." she said tapping Danny on the shoulder. He got his gun out of the drawer and locked it in his holster as he grabbed his dark jacket running out following Cassie to the sedan. Danny hopped in the driver's seat and drove off to the gym. He bumped the sirens since time is precious in the case of a stranger abduction.

"I don't think we should have those on, he might try to run."

"Good point." Danny said as he turned them off. "What do you think of this guy?"

"I haven't met him, but Eric is right. It sounds like he's hiding something."

"The question is what." Danny said. He is going about forty-five miles an hour when he gets to the street where the gym is and slows down to park on the side of the busy road just as Eric did before.

"Who do you think we should start with?" Cassie asked as they walked inside the hot sweaty atmosphere of the gym. Danny looked around the empty lobby as most people were in the work out rooms and spotted an information desk. The lady working at the desk did not seem too into her duties working at the gym. She seems more into the card game she is playing.

"Let's start with the queen of hearts."

"Excuse me ma'am."

"Give me a minute!" she snipped. Cassie looked befuddled at her as she moved some cards to the other side with her callused hands. Danny cleared his throat, looked at Cassie with his impatient face and placed his badge in front of the woman's face.

"Give _us_ a minute."

"Oh you're cops." she said with a raspy voice. She sounds like she has a pack a day habit.

"We need to talk to you about Logan Connolly."

"Logan! Oh he's the cutest thing with his brown hair and those amazing emerald eyes of his…"

"We know what he looks like, we need to know what kind of guy he is ma'am."

"Call me Cathy sweetheart."

"Cathy. I'm Detective Cassie Leland, my partner Danny Mota."

"How are you doing handsome?" Cathy asked smitten.

"Cathy, listen we need to know what kind of guy Logan Connolly is. Do you know anyone close to him?"

"Hmm… I always see him talking to the yoga instructor. I don't blame him though, she has the figure of a goddess!"

"What's her name and where is she?"

"Her name is Lana, she's down the hall last door."

"Thank you."

"I'll be watching you Detective Mota!" Cathy said in a creepy and jokingly manner. Danny looked back at her with a blank expression, not knowing how to respond. He turned around and walked with Cassie to the yoga instructor's room.

"I think she likes you!" Cassie said teasing him.

"Shut up." Danny said in a pleading manner. Cassie smiled and opened the door to the yoga room. Lana was the only person in there, she is gathering all the yoga mats together.

"Lana?"

She dropped the mats when she heard someone unexpectedly enter.

"Sorry I wasn't expecting anyone."

"We should have knocked." Danny said helping her pick up the mats.

"You're cops aren't you?"

"How'd you know?"

"My dad's been a cop for eighteen years, I know you when I see you." she said as she put the mats in a nearby closet. She put her hands on her hips and gave Danny and Cassie her full attention.

"We need to talk about Logan Connolly."

"Logan the volleyball coach?"

"Yeah. What do you know about him?"

"Uh… he hits on me all the time, but I never give him the time of day."

"Why's that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Something about him just sends me red flags."

"Has he ever gone too far with the flirting?" Cassie asked. She nodded as she wiped the sweat off her forehead and said,

"Yeah once he… he grabbed my butt and tried french kiss me, but he didn't know I have a black belt, so he hasn't tried anything physical since."

"Has he ever mentioned his personal life?"

"I don't think he has one. He spends most of his time here coaching the girls."

"Yeah does he ever seem… inappropriate with them?"

"Not that I've seen, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was. He knows how to hide it and make people see what he wants them to see."

"Have you ever reported he might be an inappropriate with them?"

"No. My dad taught my sister and I everything about the law. I haven't seen him do anything, so it would be pointless to report anything." she said irritated.

"Thank you, you've been a big help."

"Anytime, I always have time for the police."

"Here's my card in case you think of anything else." Cassie said giving her the card. Lana held the card up and smiled at them as they left.

Back at the station, Eric and Captain Dalton were ready to interrogate Connolly. They have a battle though, since Connolly's lawyer is known to them already. Mara Jasper went to the same law school as the unit's legal advisor, Amanda Baylor and she does not get along with anyone. Amanda considers her to be a stuck up self righteous woman who always has to get her way on everything. Chase with his arms crossed is watching Eric and Dalton walk to the table when Amanda came up behind him.

"Mara is back?" she asked.

"You want to have a reunion?"

"No thank you." Amanda said crossing her arms too and getting a scowled look on her face.

"Mr. Connolly, it's nice to have permission to speak to you." Eric said sarcastically. Connolly is slouched in the hard black chair, crossing his arms and glaring at Silas. Eric can read people like a book. He can tell that Connolly is uncomfortable being in a police station, he just needs to find out why.

"What's your relationship with your team of seventh graders like?"

"I don't see how that's relevant to this interview." Jasper said.

"It's relevant." Dalton said fiercely looking at her cold eyes.

"My relationship with my girls is strictly professional."

"Really?" Eric asked doubtingly. "We've heard other wise."

"From who? Lana?" Connolly asked. Dalton fixed his sports jacket and slouched back in his chair.

"How'd you know we talked to her?"

"I'm not a moron, I saw those other two cops come into the gym."

"Mr. Connolly does not appreciate you talking to his co-workers about him."

"Well maybe if Mr. Connolly let us talk to him earlier, we wouldn't have to." Eric barked at her.

"It is his right to refuse to talk to the police. Unless there's a point to this interview, we're leaving." Jasper said in a snooty way. Eric got up and shoved Connolly back on the chair.

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easy!"

"This is absurd! This man is a well respected member of the community, how dare you think he has anything to do with the abduction of this girl!" Jasper remarked.

"Your behavior is questionable, your alibi's weak and you're really pissing me off!" Eric yelled.

"You're the one who threatened my client, he's the one who should be pissed off."

"I am!" Connolly said as he stood up and glared into Eric's face. "I'm telling you this right now, you're messing with the wrong guy! You're gonna get everything that's coming to you!" Connolly said in a deep and threatening manner.

"It's a bad idea to threaten someone in this unit!" Dalton said. Eric kept glaring, but then looked down to see that Connolly's hands are pressing against the table. He looked back up into Connolly's eyes and said,

"We're not finished."

"Logan, come on we don't have to listen to this nonsense." Jasper said. She grabbed his arm as he continued to have a stare down with Silas and pulled him out of the room. She ignored Baylor as she walked Logan out of the station. Amanda's eyes followed them out of the house as her face grew with confusion.

"Why are you letting him go? We can hold him for seventy-two hours!" Amanda said not understanding their behavior.

"The cleaning crew, just made rounds this morning." Eric said smiling.

"So?" she asked still not understanding.

"That means no one else has been in that room since this morning. He touched the table."

"We can get his prints."

"And see what he's hiding." Amanda said nodding in agreeance.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey! Sorry it took me so long to update the story, I am currently going through the last few weeks of the semester and I have a load of work to do, so it might be a while before I make another update.**

While the head of the Crime Scene Unit got the prints off the table, Eric and Chase were given the task to tail Connolly to see if he would lead them to Kelsey Strayer. Eric and Chase quietly made their way back to Eric's car which was two spots behind Connolly's car. The chilly autumn day turned into a spooky October night as they tailed Connolly all over town. Eric was just glad that Connolly made a stop at Wendy's since he hadn't eaten anything all day. He got a double cheeseburger and large fries while Chase got a baconator and dunked his fries in his frosty. As they drove to Connolly's house, the juicy bacon from Chase's burger dripped onto the beige carpet of Eric's car. Chase's face froze since he knew how obsessive Eric is about his car. He decides to ignore it and maybe Eric will not notice since he is busy digging out the last few crumbs in his fry box and sucking the crumbs off his fingers. Chase goes back to consuming the rest of his greasy and delicious burger.

"You're gonna clean that up." Eric said still digging crumbs out. Chase looked up at him surprised.

"How did you even see that?"

"You should know better, I have eagle eyes." Eric said in a you know better than that tone of voice. Chase looked at him out of the corner of his eye and tried to brush the grease of Eric's floor.

"What are you doing?" Eric asked mildly panicked.

"Cleaning up!"

"Were you raised in a barn? You're supposed to dab stains, not wipe them."

"Okay, never mind the stain." Chase said throwing the napkin in the paper food bag.

"What's our guest of honor up to?" Eric asked as he tried to slurp out more Dr. Pepper out of his soda cup. Chase pulled out his pair of binoculars and cleared his throat.

"It looks like he's getting ready for the apocalypse."

"What?"

"Well look at him, he's got enough guns to take out an army." Chase said. Eric got confused and worried. He sighs and says,

"What the hell are you up to?"

Back at the station Danny and Cassie are watching the print run through the Database. Cassie is getting impatient and sighs as she slouches her back against the long desk behind her. Danny is standing close to the screen crossing his arms determined to get a match. They both perked up when the computer screen dinged with a result.

"We got it! Captain, we got it!" Cassie yelled.

"What's he hiding?" the Captain asked.

"Oh my God!" Cassie said in disbelief.

"Who is it?" Danny asked.

"What?" Dalton asked impatiently.

"He's hiding his identity. I can not believe we didn't recognize him, it's Tobias Lowell. I arrested him six years ago when I was in uniform on a rape/murder charge."

"That explains why he knew we're cops."

"He's insanely dangerous, we need to get over and give Silas and Archer backup now!" She said running to get her things.

Back at the stakeout, Chase thought the car was getting hot so he rolled down the window to let the chilly air cool him down. He watches as who he thinks is Connolly go back into his town home.

"This stakeout is worse than last week's." Chase said as he laid his head on the head rest.

"You want me to sing a song?"

"Do you want me to punch you in the head?"Chase asked. Eric looked at Chase doubtingly then back at the house. "Do you think he went to bed?"

"Freaks don't sleep, they fantasize." Eric said. Unbeknownst to the two detectives, Lowell had caught onto to their tail and had a plan in mind. He snuck out his back patio with a glock in hand. He managed to get behind Eric's car and Tobias snuck up behind them and pointed his gun at Chase's shoulder. Chase was focusing on the house, so he did not even notice which was bad. Without a warning, Chase felt a burning sensation on the back of his shoulder so he put his hand on it and saw blood. Blood is pouring out of the back of his shoulder and he started wincing in pain which got Eric's attention.

"Are you re-enacting Custer's last stand? I appreciate the entertainment, but I'm not really into history." Eric said.

"Eric!" Chase said with pain in his voice. Eric looked back at him and saw the blood pooling in the seat.

"Whoa! What the hell happened?" he asked in shock as he reached over to hold pressure against the wound.

"I happened." Lowell said standing in front of the car aiming the glock at Eric. Eric ducked and drove the car out of their spot and to the hospital as fast as he could. He opened the glove box and threw some napkins to Chase to try and stop the bleeding, but the blood was spilling out fast. Chase is starting to get light headed. Eric keeps looking at his rearview mirror because Lowell is following them on his motorcycle. Just as they turned onto the street with the hospital, Eric finally bumped his sirens on and pulled his phone out to call his team.

"Danny! Connolly just shot Chase, we're on our way to the hospital."

"His name isn't Connolly, it's Tobias Lowell. Cass arrested him six years ago for rape and murder of a fourteen year old. Is Chase okay?"

"Why is he out of jail?" Eric yelled.

"He escaped from prison two years ago."

"I'll talk to you in a minute!" Eric said as screeched up to the Emergency entrance of the hospital and got out of the car as soon as he stopped it. He ran over to the other side of the car and helped Chase out. He grabbed his elbow covered in Chase's warm, thin blood and Chase put his arm around Eric's neck and Eric drug him through the doors of the chaotic Emergency Room.

"Hello? I need some help over here!" Eric yelled. A nurse runs away from a bed where a man large in stature is drunk and has a gash on his hand, presumably from the jagged glass of a beer bottle.

"Hey lady, where the hell do you think you are?" the large man badgered. She took her messy blue gloves off as she runs over to a bloodied Chase and Eric. She can not tell who is actually the one injured since both of the two are covered in blood.

"What's the problem?"

"He was shot on the job."

"You two are cops?" she asked. Eric quickly fished his badge out of his back pocket and showed the nurse. "Doctor!"

A doctor came running up to them a few moments later and in the same amount of time it took for Eric to blink his eye, Chase was being wheeled away to the Operating Room. Eric sighed and put his bloodied hand on his head distressed and turned around to see the rest of the team looking concerned.

"How bad?" Danny asked in a low tone. Eric held his bloodied hand on his head and sighed.

"I don't know. He lost a lot of blood."

"We got Lowell." Cassie said. Eric perked up at the good news and looked at her.

"How?"

"He crashed his motorcycle into a cop car."

"Moron. Sounds like his luck is running out."

"So is yours." a voice said behind them. The team turned and were shocked to see Mara Jasper in the hospital doorway.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Captain Dalton, your detectives have been relentlessly harassing my client. He was simply acting in self-defense to make the harassment stop." Jasper said in a snide remarking manner. Eric walks up to her to stare into her cold eyes.

"My partner was not a threat to him and neither was I."

"Mr. Connolly thinks different."

Eric looked at the team who were smirking and raising their eyebrows at Jasper.

"He didn't tell you did he?" Eric asked in amusement.

"Tell me what?"

"I arrested Tobias Lowell six years ago for the rape and murder of a fourteen year old girl."

"What does that have to do with my client?"

"Tobias Lowell is your client. Ms. Jasper. He escaped from prison two years ago. Ms. Jasper." Danny said. Jasper's face dropped from cocky to a hopeless expression. She knew that she was screwed since she has no standing argument against the department. She does not say anything, she just walks out to go back to the police station. Eric still with his arms crossed smiles at her and turns back to his team.

"Look guys I know we all want to be with Archer, but we still have to nail Lowell on these charges too. Mota, Leland, get back over to the house, I'll go with you." Captain Dalton said.

"And me?" Eric asked.

"Stay here keep us updated on Archer." Dalton said. Cassie follows Danny out to the car.

"Do you think maybe Lowell didn't do this?" Cassie asked.

"What do you mean? This guy is a psychopath!"

"I agree, but we've been fixated on him from the start." Cassie said as she gets in the car.

"You think we're getting tunnel vision." Danny says as he starts the car.

"What if we are?"

"Then what else do Riley Bayne and Kelsey Strayer have in common? They go to different schools, different friend circles, volleyball is the only thing connecting them." Danny said. Cassie thinks hard for a minute then her face lights up.

"They both live in the same school district!" she says excitedly.

"Meaning what?"

"They could share a bus driver." Cassie said. Danny realizes she could be right.

"You know if my memory serves me right, Riley Bayne lived on the middle of 37th."

"That could put her either in Glover Park or Georgetown."

"That maybe why we didn't see an initial connection."

"And because parent's don't usually know who their kid rides the bus with. I'll check it out when we get back to the station." Cassie said.

"No I'll do it. I bet you probably want a run at your old friend."

She smiled and said,

"You know me all to well"

Danny smiled at her. Once they are back at the station house, Danny checks out the possibility that they maybe looking at the wrong guy while Cassie chats with her old friend. She looks over the old file for a few minutes before walking into the interrogation room.

"So who's Logan Connolly? I'm sure you didn't think up that name on your own." Cassie said tauntingly. She is trying to make him mad, just as she did before six years ago. He gives her an angry look.

"My client was not given proper medical attention due to the accident."

"Your client was medically cleared now answer the question." Cassie said. Lowell rubbed his shoulder and glared at her.

"I heard that you have a new suspect. Why don't you go talk to him instead?"

"Oh come on Tobias, don't you want to chat?"

"I didn't kidnap anyone." he said as he is slumped over in his chair.

"Alright listen, you're already going back to prison, so why don't you just give it up." Cassie said. Jasper brushed her brown bangs back and sat up in her chair.

"If he says he didn't do it, then he didn't do it."

"You clearly have never been a cop. You really want me to just take his word?"

Cassie asked looking her in the eye. Their apparent staring contest is interrupted by a knock on the window. Cassie's waist lifted her upper body off the the table as she walked out of the room and slammed the heavy door to the viewing room where Danny was waiting.

"What's up?"

"They have the same bus driver! His name is Foster Knowles." Danny said excitedly.

"What do you got on him?"

"His juvy record has him on a couple of underage drinking charges and an assault. He was dishonorably discharged from the Marines two years ago for Disorderly Conduct. He punched his Commanding Officer when he decided to defy orders."

"He sounds like he has some trouble with authority." Cassie said.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go pick him up." Danny said in a hurry.

"What are we going to do with Mister Dumb Ass in there?"

"Send him to Sussex and let's go!"

"Where are you two going?" Dalton asked as they gathered their badge and gun to go out.

"Chase down a new lead."

"Fill me in first."

"Foster Knowles, he was dishonorably discharged from the Marines two years ago."

"He's Riley and Kelsey's bus driver." Danny said as he handed Dalton the file. Dalton shook his head as he read the file.

"Gives him plenty of access to young girls."

"Exactly, we're going to go pick him up."

"You really think he's going to be home if he is our guy?"

"It's worth a shot."

"I'm going to call NCIS and get a full background on this guy." Dalton said as he walked into his office.


	5. Chapter 5

Danny's black car zooms down the street with sirens blaring as they make their way to one of the rougher parts of the city. Danny drives roughly up and into a beaten down townhouse. The black paint is almost completely worn off from the decaying dark wood. Cob webs are the primary decoration on the porch. Danny and Cassie walk up to the condemned property on the uneven sidewalk.

"I think it's unlikely anyone would live in such a dump." Cassie said.

"I don't know, it kind of reminds me of my first apartment." Danny said jokingly. Cassie laughed and said,

"I'll add that to the list of reasons I don't ever want to see your apartment."

"It's a nice place now." he protested.

"Sure." she said doubtingly.

She took a step on the shaky wooden boards to the patio and it felt like she was going to slip. She warns her partner to be careful of the unsafe patio. She takes another step and a board flips up and almost whacks her and Danny on the head. The sudden flip of the board startled Cassie and made her bump into Danny. She apologizes and they continue to enter the rickety old house as the wooden boards creak under their feet on the porch. Danny knocks on the door only to have it open on the second knock. He just stares at the door as it almost falls off it's hinges.

"I guess a lock is out of the question."

"Come on." Cassie said she took a step onto the floor covered with dust and dirt. Danny stopped her when he heard something odd.

"Hang on, do you hear something?" he asked. She listened carefully to what sounded like a smoke alarm.

"What's wrong with a smoke alarm with bad batteries? This whole place could use new batteries."

"No that beep is too frequent for a smoke alarm." he thought carefully for a second and then grabbed Cassie's arm and ran out of the house.

"What?" she yelled as she reluctantly ran along with him.

"It's a bomb!" he yelled. Cassie picked up her pace and they jumped off the old porch and covered their heads as they landed in the dirt as the bomb inside the house detonated. The backyard of the house caught small fires in different places of the yard barely covered with grass. Debris from the house covered the ground and landed on the two detectives. The old house is in place, but the wood is now completely black and smoke fills the area with a sickening aroma. A few minutes pass before the two lift their heads up slowly from the black debris and begin to brush everything off of them. The siren of a firetruck is heard in the distance.

"Cassie, are you okay?" Danny asked nervously. Cassie pushes away more debris and sits up.

"Yeah I'm alright. What about you?"

"Yeah." Danny said brushing some dirt and debris off his head. A firetruck rushes up to the house a few minutes later and firemen deploy from the truck.

"We got two down!" one of them yells.

"We're not down, we're okay." Cassie said standing up.

"Are you sure? You should really be checked out."

"Fine, but we don't need to go to the hospital." Danny said. One of the firemen took them aside and talked to them about what just happened. A blue sedan rolls up to the house and a tall silvered hair man steps out with another tall man wearing dark sunglasses. He takes the sunglasses off as he gets out of the sedan to walk up to Danny and Cassie.

"Agents." Danny said as they walked up.

"How did you know that?" the older one asked.

"I know feds when I see them."

"Agent DiNozzo, and this is Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the man in charge."

"Please don't tell me you're taking this case from us."

"No we're not."

"I thought that's why we came here boss."

"You had the find. What's next?" Gibbs asked.

"We need to call our captain." Cassie said.

"Of course." DiNozzo says as he approaches Cassie closer. He gives her a charming smile and raises his eyebrows at her. Suddenly a black suburban drives up to the condemned house as well.

"It's a law enforcement party! Why weren't we invited?"

"We're here Mota." Cassie said. Danny shrugged as the people in the black suburban got out of the van. An authoritative tall man wearing dark sunglasses and dark brown hair walks up to them and takes the glasses off to reveal the turmoil hiding in his dark eyes when he steps in front of them.

"I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner of the Behavioral Analysis Unit in the FBI. This is my team and we're here to help with the efforts to find the missing girl."

"Detective Danny Mota, Major Crimes DC Metro. This is my partner Detective Cassie Leland."

"How long has she been missing now?"

"She was taken around eight this morning so about three hours now." Cassie said.

"We have to get inside this guy's head." a tall and stalky guy with messy hair said to Agent Hotchner. While the behavioral guys talked to Danny and Cassie, Agent DiNozzo from NCIS caught a glimpse of a particular piece of debris. He walked over to it and picked it up. Agent Gibbs walked up to him to see what he found.

"What do you got DiNozzo?" he asked. Tony looked at Gibbs then back at the paper. In big black block letters the paper read, "Bad things happen at night."

"Do you mind if we follow you to the station?" Agent Hotchner asked Danny and Cassie.

"Please be our guest." Danny said somewhat sarcastically. Agent Hotchner looked at Danny as he walked to the car. Danny does not like when the FBI or other agencies get involved in cases because they tend to take over. Cassie got in the passenger seat of the car and Danny lead the law enforcement officers to the Metropolitan station house. Danny looks irritated as he leads them to the house and Cassie looks at him.

"Danny, it's not a turf war. They're here to help."

"I just don't like when they tell us what to do. I take orders from two people only; Dalton and the Chief."

"Don't forget me." Cassie said jokingly. Danny looked at her then kept his gaze on the road. Everyone piled into the metro station to discuss the case and how to find Foster Knowles. The two agents from NCIS have case files on their target. Chief Bellamy is in charge of leading everyone in the right direction.

"Okay people this is who we believe has kidnapped thirteen year old Kelsey Strayer. His name is Foster Knowles."

"Formerly a Lance Corporal in the Marine Corps, he served one tour in Afghanistan in 09 and was dishonorably discharged in 2011." Agent Gibbs said.

"Evidently he has a problem with authority, he punched his CO over a dispute." Agent DiNozzo said.

"We'll need all the files you have on this guy, so we can start on the profile."

"Well if that's all you need from the extremely good looking professionals of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, we'll be going." Tony said. He pushed the door and realized the door had to be pulled, so he pulled it open and smiled charmingly at the crowd. Gibbs rolled his eyes at Tony and gave Chief Bellamy his card.

"If you need anything else." Gibbs said as he followed Tony out. After the agents from NCIS left, the BAU collaborated with the major crimes unit to create a profile on the evil man. Time was ticking for Kelsey.


	6. Chapter 6

Chief Northam and Captain Dalton walked into the station house's conference room that was filled with officers in uniform, his detectives, detectives from other units and federal agents. Chief whistled loudly and said,

"Anyone who is not a part of the BAU or the major crimes unit, get out and track down the tips we got on the tip line!"

Once the room had been cleared out and everyone needed was sitting at the table, Dalton took charge of the room.

"Let's everyone please get acquainted quickly; this is the BAU. I'm Captain Jeffrey Dalton, this is our Chief Bellamy Northam, Sergeant Eric Silas, Detective Danny Mota and Detective Cassie Leland. One of our detectives was shot earlier and is still in surgery. I want to remind my team, I know you want to be with Archer, but we have to catch this bastard."

"We're sorry to hear about that. I'm Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner. These are SSAs Derek Morgan, David Rossi, Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss and Dr. Spencer Reid."

"Let's get started." Morgan said. Dalton started putting files and folders on the large table and spread them around.

"Okay we got juvy records, Marine service records, social service records…"

"Alex, I'll take juvy for a thousand." Eric said.

"Silas."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Yes sir." Eric said to Dalton as he grabbed a folder.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Danny asked some what impatiently.

"We're looking for his behavioral patterns that might lead us to where he took the girl." Agent Morgan said. Just as Morgan said so his phone rang.

"Hey baby girl, what do you got for us?"

"Well my loves I have delved deep into Foster Knowles' social service records and have found the profiler's jackpot."

"Tell us." JJ said eagerly.

"Okay everyone gather around for story time. When Foster was only six years old his dad left him and his mom and according to the report his dad told him it was his fault he left."

"Ouch." Prentiss said.

"Yeah. He told the social worker he had to eat out of trash cans because his mom never fed him and was always in the house doing drugs. He says after his sister was born in 2002, his mom decided to turn things around clean her life up. He left the system the day he turned eighteen and enlisted in the Marines."

"He sounds like he has deep abandonment issues." Morgan said.

"He was twelve when his sister was born then he must think that's the age he was when his life really nose dived." JJ said.

"He must be trying to ruin the girls who he kidnaps."

"Oh." Garcia said intrigued.

"What is it?" Rossi asked.

"He applied for a job after he got out of the Marines and he used a different name."

"What was it?" Dalton asked excitedly.

"John Muller."

"Are there any properties under that name?" Reid asked.

"Uh…" Garcia typed fast and furiously. "Okay here! He has an apartment in Southeast DC."

"That's a rough part of town." Rossi said.

"Not many people would make a big deal of it if they heard screaming or gunfire." Reid said.

"Just how he needs it."

"Let's stop talking about it and go!" Mota said as he shoved his gun in his holster. Everyone got in their vehicles and raced to the Southeastern part of the city. The black suburbans and the cop cars are going as fast as the law lets them. Kelsey's fate is still unknown. The previous girl, Riley Bayne who was kidnapped just fifteen months before was never found. Her father Evan is at home in an apartment near the South East quadrant of the District of Columbia. He is sitting in the dark with the couch facing away from the large window. Evan stares at a framed picture of his family on the window seal. He grabs it to look at it closer and lays his head on his hand and sighs. He strokes the picture of his beautiful child with his calloused thumb as a tear runs down his unshaved face. He quivers as he remembers her soft, sweet smile and her contagious laugh. He perks up when he hears sirens blaring down the road outside of his apartment. He sniffles hard and batts tears back as he watches the long line of cop cars. He recognizes the cars from the metro station from his numerous visits. He takes a deep breath and says,

"Get the bastard."

The cars zoomed down the road at a nearly sixty miles an hour. They screech up to a beaten down apartment building. The officers split into groups and run into separate parts of the house. The officers from Major Crimes in Metro go around the back while the BAU run up to the front door. Morgan runs up the stoop and pounds on the door.

"FBI open the door!" Morgan yells as he pounds harder. Morgan knows that a girl's life is at stake, so he wastes no time kicking the door down with his muscle heavy leg. They rush into the living space where the faded green paint is peeling off and the only furniture in the place is a couch and a coffee table. All of the agents start running through the rooms and opening closets. JJ holds her gun in one hand and the other slowly opens the closet in the back room. She takes a breath and pulls it open and she is in shock. She lowers her head down as a sad expression washes over her face. Kelsey drops out of the closet and JJ believes she is dead. JJ works up her voice so she can tell the others. Everyone runs to her and takes the duct tape off her body. Morgan pushes his fingers against her wrist trying to find a pulse.

"She's still alive! Call an ambulance!" he yelled.

Outside in the back alley the major crimes detectives are searching the large trash cans. Bottles are clinking as they shift through the bins and everyone is trying to avoid the horrible smell of rotting food.

"We got her!" Prentiss yelled out to the detectives. Everyone's face lit up except for Cassie who found a shoe looking like it belonged to a young girl. She tries to pick it up, but it is a lot heavier than it seems. Cassie looks horrified and sad. Everyone is running towards the action except for Cassie. Danny stops running when he realizes his partner is not with them and turns around to see her staring sadly at the trash can and holding something.

"Cassie, come on!"

"Danny!" Cassie said as a tear went down her face and she held up the shoe. Danny's face changes from happy to sad as he realizes what Cassie found. He looks down and turns to the rest of the team.

"Hey guys."

Eric and Dalton turn around when they hear Danny.

"What? Come on Mota we found our kidnap victim!"

"We got another one." he said sadly. Eric looked at the bin where Cassie was standing with worried eyes. He and Dalton walked down to help them push the trash away to see who was under it. Everyone held their breath as they cleared away the trash to reveal an ugly sight. They all lower their heads in sorrow when they see the body of a young girl. The girl looked like she had been tortured and her skin was the tint of grey. They did not have a medical examiner with them, but it looks like she died from two gunshots to her chest. Eric gets a lump in his throat and tears run down his face. Seeing such a young life gone is never an easy sight for anyone to see. Eric nods his head.

"Riley."


	7. Chapter 7

Everyone was still in shock after finding Kelsey still alive and Riley dead. As the major crimes detectives along with JJ, Reid, Rossi and Morgan watch the ambulance take Kelsey away and the coroner is bagging the dead girl when Prentiss walks out of the house with some unsettling news.  
"Guys we have another problem."  
"What's wrong?" Reid asked. Prentiss looks uneasy.  
"You need to see this."  
Everyone followed Prentiss into the house and up to a room in the second level of the apartment that was covered with pictures of another little girl. They were shocked at the sheer amount of pictures of this girl in the room.  
"Who is this girl?" JJ asked. Reid walked in and immediately recognized her from Foster Knowles' files.  
"It's Austyn Knowles. She's Foster's sister." Reid said. Everyone looked at each other in panic. They realized they should have thought to find Foster's mom and sister and put them in protective custody.  
"We need to get to them now!" Dalton said in a hurry. Everyone ran out to their cars and rushed over to Knowles' family's house except for Eric. Eric decided to head over and let Riley's dad know what they had just discovered. The agents of the BAU and the detectives of the Metro had lights and sirens on every car as they bolt over to the Knowles' house to give protection to the family. The teams passed by the Bayne apartment where Eric was headed. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door as the red and blue flashes went by him. They finally pulled into a cul-de-sac of apartment buildings where there was a woman frantically banging on everyones door and making chaos. She was screaming and started pulling hair of a random guy on the sidewalk and when Reid and Rossi got out of the suburban she ran up to them and attacked them.  
"Whoa Whoa!" Reid yelled.  
"Ma'am!" Rossi yelled as he tried to get her off. Morgan and Hotch heard the commotion and pulled the woman off of Reid.  
"Who are you?" Morgan asked loudly.  
"I want to know which one of these bastards took my child!"  
"Are you Marla Knowles?" Morgan asked as she hit her fist against his chest.  
"Who wants to know?" she asked crying.  
"FBI." Morgan said holding his badge up.  
"DC Metro." Danny said chiming in.  
"What's the problem?" Morgan asked as he adjusted her to stand up properly.  
"My daughter is gone." she drunkenly sobbed as she hit her fist against Morgan's rock solid chest. Everyone around her could smell the aroma of alcohol on her.  
"Is your daughter Austyn?"  
"How did you know that?"  
"We have reason to believe that your son took her." JJ said. Marla looked up at her with dried tears on her face looking confused.  
"I haven't seen him in seven years. Why would he do this?"  
"We'll explain later, but we believe that Austyn is in a lot of danger."  
"Do you know where Foster might go to clear his head?"  
"How am I supposed to know?"  
"Because you're his mother. Don't you know your own kid?" Cassie asked.  
"You don't know me, you skank!" Marla yelled. Cassie raised her eyebrows at her. Meanwhile Hotch and Prentiss were on their way over to talk to Foster's last employer. Since his mom was not being very helpful at all, they figured his last employer would be the next best thing to figuring out where Foster had taken his sister. Hotch stopped the large dark van in front of a hardware store and he and Prentiss walked in there authoritatively. A man working at the customer service desk was too focused to notice them come into the store.  
"Excuse me sir?" Hotch said in his deep and stern voice.  
"What can I do for you?" the guy at the desk said taken aback by Prentiss. He looked at her with google eyes.  
"Hey eyes up here buddy! We need your help."  
"I can help you with anything you need." he said. Hotch slammed the picture of Foster Knowles on the table.  
"Easy slammy." the guy said.  
"Do you know this guy, yes or no?" Hotch demanded. He held the picture up closer.  
"Oh yeah it's Foster."  
"We need to know where he might go on his breaks."  
"He was always disappearing during his shifts, I always ended up finding him in the parking lot across the street."  
"Let's go." Hotch said.  
"If you need anything else, call me." the guy said. Prentiss stared at him skeptically as they marched out. They called for the rest of the team to meet them at the parking garage. They got the SWAT team and vested up for a showdown with a monster. Behind the SWAT team, JJ and Hotch were the first ones to follow. Gun drawn, JJ was looking intense and hellbent on finding this killer. Hiding under a small Honda car was Foster with a loaded semi and a silencer. JJ suddenly felt a pain in her lower leg and then it started to go numb. As she tried to walk further, her leg started to go limp. She stumbles and grabs a hold of a truck in front of her.  
"JJ, what's wrong?" Hotch asked.  
"Uh…" JJ was confused and looked down to pinpoint the source of the pain.  
"Someone call an ambulance!" Morgan yelled when he saw a trail of blood coming from JJ's leg. She fell onto the ground looking like she was going to pass out. Hotch and Morgan ran over to her and told Reid and Prentiss to keep going. The detectives ran behind the row of cars where they thought the shot came from. Behind a support beam in the garage was where Foster was hiding with a gun in one hand and his other covering his sister's mouth to keep her quiet. Austyn is breathing through her nose as she quivers and tries not to lose it. Her curly brown hair is pushed up against the beam. She has never seen her brother act like this before and it is seriously scaring her. Reid catches a glimpse of something behind a structure beam. He motions over to Prentiss and Cassie and they surround the beam by the stairs. Foster gets a glimpse of everyone surrounding them by looking over his shoulder. He knows there is limited options for him at this point.  
"Foster Knowles, Metro Police!" Cassie yelled.  
"FBI!" Prentiss yelled. Foster takes his hand off of Austyn's mouth and grabs her by the arm which makes her whimper in fear.  
"Everyone of you better back off or I'll blow her head off!" Foster yelled. Austyn sobbed hard as he put the gun against her head.  
"You don't want to do that Foster!"  
"Why the hell not?" he yelled. Cassie slowly started to put her gun away.  
"Listen to me! We already have you on kidnapping, attempted murder and murder. If you let her go, we can talk to the judge about taking off the death penalty, but you gotta let her go!"  
Foster kept on backing up to the staircase and Cassie, Prentiss and Reid follow him. Everyone corners him when he gets onto the staircase that is backing up to the back alley.  
"She was always the little princess and what was I to my mother? I was worthless. Everything I have done in my life means nothing!" Foster said angrily.  
"That's not true Foster." Reid said as he kept his aim. "You did a great service to your country, doesn't that count for something?"  
"The Marines was the best thing I could have found and they didn't want me either. I'm a nuisance in this world!"  
"Foster, look at me!" Prentiss said as she put her hands to her side and put her gun away. "Let me come over there and get Austyn out, she doesn't need to be a part of this."  
"She hasn't suffered in this life! I'm giving some to her."  
Foster stared at them intently. They scream at him as he begins to raise his gun at them. Everyone is demanding he put the gun down, but they are faced with no choice but to shoot. Cassie had the best shot, so she fired twice. Foster hit his head against the concrete wall as the blood coming from his head splatters onto Austyn. Austyn freaked out and ran to Reid. Cassie lowered her head and walked back down to her team. Danny could saw her come down looking disheveled.  
"What happened?" he asked. She looked to the side and back at him. She put her hand on her shoulder in an uncomfortable manner.  
"I killed him."  
He walked up to her.  
"Cassie, you had no choice. He was a bad guy…"  
"I know, I know that. I just wish that the girl didn't have to see it."  
Danny rubbed her shoulder.  
"She'll be okay."  
Just as they were talking, Marla Knowles and Austyn were reunited. Foster was now in a body bag on his way to the morgue. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was now in harmony. The members of the Major Case squad are now back in their house.  
"I heard Chase is in ICU recovering. How is he?" Cassie asked Eric.  
"He's doing great. He'll back next week!"  
"Did Chase say that or did the Doctor?"  
Eric paused for a minute.  
"Well Chase knows himself better than the doctor."  
Cassie smiles at him. "I heard the agent from the FBI pulled through too."  
"That's great. She was a… great woman."  
"I also heard she's married."  
Eric sighed. "There's always a catch."  
Danny hit him on the chest and smiled. Chief Northam walks in the squad room.  
"Everyone go home. Good work today."  
Everyone went home on the success of the day.


End file.
